Did a boy trained in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu put his mother to sleep with a head lock when she took away his Fortnight video game? No, that's not true: A video featured in a much-shared story showing a boy wrestling with a woman does not indicate when the child is violently defiant, contrary to the contention he was upset about being denied his game.
The story originated from an article (archived here) and shared on March 30, 2019 under the title "BJJ Trained Kid Puts His Mom To Sleep When She Takes Away His Fortnite Video-Game.". It opened:
Nobody likes being having their favorite video games taken away. Under the right circumstances, it can be quite nice. But that notwithstanding, to rephrase, no kid enjoys being grounded. The authoritative child-rearing technique has fallen somewhat out of vogue in western culture over the course of the last generation amidst calls that the practice constitutes child abuse.
Social media visitors saw this:
The story on the website Combatland.com borrowed the video from FlyHeights.com, which made no mention of the child being trained in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or being denied his Fortnite game. That was all made up to appeal to the audience of the website, which promises to cover "the world of fighting."
Before we launch in, we need to point out that the kid who is about 9 years old has been training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu pretty much since he could walk. And what he lacks in size and power, given his youth, he more than makes up for in ferocity. As the clip opens, he already has grandma in a triangle hold just like Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon.
The video shows an apparently spoiled child arguing with his mother, while taking his grandmother down onto the ground and holding her there by putting her into a head lock with his legs. A translation produced at Lead Stories' request revealed the language is the Putonghua dialect of Mandarin Chinese that is usually spoken in Beijing. While the boy's actions and body language are universally understood, the translator explained that the mother is threatening to call police unless the child releases his grip on his grandmother.
While the misrepresentation of this video may seem to be innocence and without consequence, the comments under the posts show that people are using it to wrongly draw conclusions.
